2007 Thomas Episode Adaptations
by ThomasZoey3000
Summary: Adaptations of stories featuring Thomas the Tank Engine and all his friends on Sodor, set in the year 2007.
1. Importance Over Common Sense

This adaptation was requested by my friend 'Tate310', hope I said it right. This is a second attempt at a previous adaptation I did years ago, but with alot of differences compared with the original adaptation I did. It was alot harder to do the second time around, but here it is at last and I'll try to bring out more 2007 Thomas Episode Adaptations in the future.

 _ **Importance Over Common Sense**_

 _ **Based on "Sir Handel in Charge" (2007)**_

It was a calm quiet evening as Duke and Skarloey were talking after a long day's work. The conversation though was cut off by the sounds of a grumbling tank engine in the distance. Right away, they knew who it was.

"Oh dear, something's gotten Sir Handel cross again," sighed Duke.

And he was right. Sir Handel puffed into the sheds and vented on about how he's been wronged by working in the quarry. "Day after day it's the same thing, I take those horrible wagons to the Wharf and back to the quarry again. I should be out taking our bogie wheeled coaches, not working with those trucks, it's not fair."

Skarloey rolled his eyes, he had heard this kind of talk before from Sir Handel, even longer than Duke had.

Sir Handel was about to rant on again when they heard a whistle. James was pulling up next to the Wharf with a dented bufferbeam. Sir Handel's angry look changed to a smirk, "hello James, what happened to you? Run into a tree again?" and he burst into laughter.

"Yes a matter of fact I did," he said sarcastically, "of course I didn't you blue powderpuff! I was in the shunting yards when that daft Billy shunted his trucks too fast and too hard, and they bumped into me! Denting my bufferbeam in the process I might add!"

"Were your crew hurt?" Skarloey asked with concern.

"No, thankfully my Driver and fireman were okay, but Billy needs to calm down before he hurts someone else."

"Oh poor James," Sir Handel said with a mocking tone, "he's all upset because he couldn't keep a good look out. I guess that's why he ended up on Edward's branch line that one time."

James snorted, "the points were set to the wrong line and you know it Sir Handel!"

"Sure, whatever you say James."

"Well at least I still pull passenger trains. From what I've heard, you're not allowed to pull them anymore after your jerking about last year." A smirk came to James' face, "with your controller on board no less."

"I needed some serious repairs, and you know that James!" snapped Sir Handel.

James sniggered, but before he could continue, a stern voice called out; "that's quite enough of that! James, there's space for you in the works, you can go now!" James said no more and puffed off. The Thin Controller then turned to Sir Handel, "as for you Sir Handel, I could hear your complaining from a mile away."

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm tired of working with trucks, can't I take coaches again?"

"We have enough engines taking the coaches Sir Handel, and until I decide to change the arrangment, you will pull trucks."

Sir Handel groaned, but went silent when the Thin Controller stared at him. He then turned to Skarloey and Duke, "now tomorrow, I will be meeting with Sir Topham at Knapford, so I'll be putting Mr Hugh in charge. He will let you of what jobs you are to do and he will keep an eye out until I get back." He eyed Sir Handel firmly, "so watch your temper Sir Handel."

"Yes Sir," sighed Sir Handel unhappily.

The Thin Controller got back onto his bike and rode away. Sir Handel grumbled crossly under his breath, "I deserve to be in charge, it's not fair."

The following next morning, the Thin Controller boarded an early morning passenger train and went to Knapford. His train was hardly out of sight though when trouble came up in the shed. Ivo Hugh wasn't feeling well. His Driver and fireman tried to get him started, but he would not steam properly.

"Beats me on what's wrong," sighed Mr Hugh after a while. "I'll have to stay here and help get him in steam."

"But Sir, you're suppose to be keeping an eye on us engines," objected Duke, "surely one of the Pre-teens at the works can help with any repairs on Ivo Hugh."

"The pre-teens could help Ivo Hugh, but they're still in training, so it's best if I do this." He then looked around the shed and sighed, "Sir Handel will have to watch over the engines, and take Ivo Hugh's next passenger train. I'm sure Freddie wouldn't mind helping down at the quarry."

Freddie the No 8 agreed to help. Sir Handel beamed, a real job at last! And he was also in charge of keeping an eye on the engines.

"The engines all know what they have to do, so all you'll need to do is make sure everything runs smoothly. Please Sir Handel, don't make me regret my decision," Mr Hugh said firmly.

"Oh don't worry Sir, you can always count on me."

Sir Handel puffed out of the shed and over to the coach yards. Millicent and Gertrude were delighted to see Sir Handel, but he was too excited for his own good and accidently bumped them.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" they cried, "be careful Sir Handel, that was too rough!"

"They're not trucks Sir Handel," his Driver added, "I know it's been a while, but you got to remember to be careful."

"Yeah yeah, I know what to do," he smirked.

He was soon coupled up and started to puff away. A shunter called out, "Wait! You'll need the other coaches too!" But Sir Handel didn't stop, even with his Driver ordering him to do so.

"I'm in charge now, and I won't stop for anything meaningless."

He fussed into the station where he found Gordon waiting with the express.

"Back to pulling coaches again?" he asked.

"Indeed, and I'm also in charge of the railway while the Thin Controller is away." He then explained about what happened in the shed. He then noticed Duncan rattling along with slate trucks. "Oi Duncan, stop right there!"

"Who are you to order me about?" he snapped.

"Mr Hugh has put in charge of keeping you in order, and you're being rough again, so stop your train right now!"

Duncan snorted, but he did stop. Gordon rolled his eyes, "Take care Sir Handel, you're bound to get into trouble with that attitude."

Sir Handel ignored Gordon, "What do you know? You're only a standard gauge engine."

The coaches were soon full of passengers, but there wasn't enough room for the rest that were on the platform.

"I'm sorry everyone, but we only have the two coaches," said the guard. "Maybe if Sir Handel goes back for the other coaches, we'll have enough..." PEEP! PEEP! Sir Handel was whistling to the guard that he was ready to go. The guard climbed on board, thinking they would collect more coaches, but instead Sir Handel puffed forward.

"Hey! We wanted to ride the train too!" cried the remaining passengers.

"Stop!" cried some of the passengers on board, "some of us have family members waiting on the platform!"

But Sir Handel continued on. The remaining passengers went to complain to the Stationmaster.

As the day wore on, Sir Handel got on the nerves of the other engines. He used his new role to keep the other engines out of the way. He ordered Rusty and Peter Sam to wait in a siding as passenger trains were more important than goods. He then told Mighty Mac to wait by the water tower since there were no jobs for them, and he even told Rheneas to remain in a siding with his passengers as he felt he had the right of way. This made them all rather cross.

His Driver and fireman reminded him that his job was to keep an eye on the other engines, not order them about, but Sir Handel wouldn't listen to them. He had a new role, and no one was going to tell him otherwise.

Up ahead was trouble. Fred the Diesel and the workmen were working on a section of track as the rails were unstable. They thought they had plenty of time, but they soon found out that was not true. Sir Handel was speeding down the line and hurrying to that spot.

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" he panted, pretending to be like Gordon. "It's good to be the boss."

"Steady boy, steady!"

Sir Handel continued to ignore him. Up ahead, he saw the workmen, who were surprised to see Sir Handel. They waved red flags and told him to stop, but he wouldn't listen.

"They don't tell me what to do, I tell them what to do, so GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he shouted and stormed past them. This was a mistake.

One moment, Sir Handel was on the track and speeding along, then the next moment, he was sliding down a small hill, threw some bushes and stopped in a pond. Passengers had to climb out of the coaches and scramble to the roofs. They shouted and complained to the crew.

"Don't blame us," exclaimed the fireman, "it was our engine!"

Sir Handel wanted to protest, but he couldn't with his mouth under the water.

One of the workmen got out his mobile phone and called for help. Minutes went by, but it seemed like forever. At last, a whistle was heard and who should come up but Mighty Mac with the remaining coaches Sir Handel left behind.

"My goodness Sir Handel, what a mess you got yourself into this time," said Mighty.

Sir Handel said nothing, but he did scowl at the engine. Moments later, they heard a buzzing sound. It was Harold the Helicopter, "don't worry ladies and gentlemen, we'll get you to dry land in no time."

It took a while, but after half an hour, all the passengers were on dry land. They thanked Harold and the rescuers, then climbed into the coaches, grateful to be riding behind another engine.

"Don't worry folks, there's plenty of room for all of you on board," smiled Mac.

In the coaches were the other passengers. Skarloey was originally going to take them along with his own passengers, but when Mighty Mac came back asking for work, the Stationmaster agreed to let them take the passengers. The last of them had just gotten on board when the call came threw. Now _all_ the passengers were on board, and Mighty Mac puffed away to continue the journey. Sir Handel remained where he was.

It was dark by the time Duncan arrived with the breakdown train. He also brought a certain stern looking man with him, "Sir Handel! I heard about you bossing the other engines around, and I'm not impressed."

"But Sir, surely you know what it means to be firm with certain engines."

"Yes, but only the trouble making ones. Duncan was taking a goods train, same with Rusty and Peter Sam, and you delayed them. Luckily Mr Hugh let them go, and don't get me started on the angry passengers from Rheneas' train as well as your own. Today's events are prove as to why I don't allow engines like you to be in charge."

"You're also lucky," the Thin Controller continued, "That no one was hurt. After you're back on the rails, you will be left in the shed until your common sense comes back, then maybe I'll let you out."

Sir Handel was soon back on firm rails. His firebox was too wet to be given a new fire, so Duncan towed him back to the sheds.

The others were not too happy to see Sir Handel. James was nearby after being repaired, and smirked when he saw the soaking Sir Handel, "you'd think with him being that old, he would know better."

Duke was quick to agree, "importance over common sense is never a good thing. I hope he's learned from this."

Has he learned from this experience, well I guess we'll have to wait for the next story to know for sure.


	2. Big, Bad Hector

_**Big, Bad Hector**_

 _ **Based on "Hector the Horrid" (2007)**_

Ballast trucks may be known as the worst kind of trucks on the North Western Railway, but it doesn't stop the other trucks from trying to take the title away and become an engine's worst nightmare.

Goods traffic was increasing and the Fat Controller had ordered some new trucks to join the current collection of rolling stock, but he was having his worries about this lot.

"I do hope they don't cause trouble," he thought to himself. "They are bigger than normal wagons."

A few days later, Splatter and Dodge were rattling down the line with a long line of bogie wheeled hoppers. The wagons were all being horrid, bumping back and forth and nearly hitting the cab windows on Splatter.

"Oi, careful there you trucks!" he called, "My Driver's in there you know."

"Does it look like we care? No we don't," said the leader of the trucks, "so shut up!"

Splatter rolled his eyes and said nothing more. The leader of these wagons was a truck called Hector, it was easy to see why as his name was written on both his sides in big white letters. He was the most horrid of all the bogie wheeled wagons, and was nicknamed 'Hector the Horrid'.

"Ouch!" cried Dodge as the last wagon bumped into him.

"Did I give you permission to speak you stupid diesel? No I didn't!" snapped Hector. "Now shut up!"

"How about you shut it?!" snapped Splatter. "Dodge and I have every right to talk, or cry out when you bump us. Now behave yourselves, or we'll..."

"You'll do nothing, you're small little insects compared to the likes of us. Right boys?!"

The other wagons all agreed with Hector.

At last, they reached the yards where they found James waiting with a stopping passenger train, and Duck being prepared to go back down the Little Western.

"Good glory," gasped Duck, "when the Fat Controller said he was going to bring in big wagons, he wasn't kidding."

"No indeed," agreed Splatter. "Take heed though, they really are a handful."

James looked to the line of trucks and gulped. He was quite glad not to be working with this horrid lot. His guard's whistle blew and he puffed away. Hector watched James go and growled at him.

"What a horrid truck," James thought to himself.

Splatter and Dodge took the trucks over to the yards and were uncoupled, "here you are, now you behave yourselves, or Sir Topham Hatt will have words with all of you," Dodge said firmly.

Hector rolled his eyes. The diesels rattled away, rather sore from their journey.

The other trucks giggled at the new arrivals, "look at them, all shiny and with white trim around their wheels. They look more like express coaches to us," and they burst into laughter.

"What's that about me and my mates?!" snapped Hector. This caused all the other trucks to stop laughing, "I don't take kindly to you insulting your new king of the yards."

"King of the yards? You must be joking."

Hector glared at the truck that spoke back, "talk like that, and me and my mates will break you to pieces, so learn your place."

The truck gulped and the others went silent. For once, they were not happy to see new arrivals.

The next morning, Murdoch arrived to collect the new hoppers. He was to take them to the coaling plant and have them filled with enough coal to fill up an order for the Other Railway. He was coupled up and tried to pull away, but the big steam engine found himself struggling to move.

"Hey, what's going on here? My wheels are slipping, that's never happened to the 9Fs."

The Driver stopped the train, then he and the fireman went to check on the trucks. It wasn't that hard to find the problem, "the trucks have slipped their brakes on," he said. "Never mind, we'll have the brakes released in no time."

Or so they thought. They released the brakes alright, but once Murdoch was ready to leave, they slipped them on again and made Murdoch struggle out of the yards.

"Come on you lot! Come on! Come on! Come on!" he groaned.

The strain in trying to move the wagons soon got to Murdoch. There was a sudden crack and he was engulfed in a cloud of steam, "What's happened?" he cried.

"You burst your safety valve, you're not going anywhere," groaned the Driver.

"Oh bother," groaned Murdoch.

The big hoppers laughed. Hector smirked, "well done lads, well done."

The other trucks were stunned. Murdoch was one engine they never played tricks on, yet these wagons decided to misbehave with him, "Murdoch's friendly to us, how dare they do this," they whispered to each other. Thankfully, Hector heard nothing.

Sometime later, Neville arrived to shunt Murdoch off the train. "Wendell will come by to pick you up later. In the meantime, I'll take the wagons to the coaling plant."

"Watch yourself Neville, they have strong brakes."

Once again, the wagons slipped their brakes on and Neville found it hard to move the train. He stopped so as to get his breath back, "great Bulleid, they are tough little buggers."

"I told you so," said Murdoch.

They released the brakes again, and with every ounce of strength he had, Neville tried to move the wagons. But the wagons slipped their brakes on again and made his wheels spin on the rails.

"We will not go with stupid engines like you!" snapped Hector. "Keep holding back lads!"

They did and soon Neville had to give up.

"I don't believe this," groaned the yard manager. "One engine's failed and another is struggling under their weight. How in the world did Splatter and Dodge move them in the first place?"

"Beats me," sighed Neville. Then he made a suggestion, "Sir, what if we uncouple half the wagons? That will make things a little easier for me. Another engine can then take the rest of the wagons."

The yard foreman thought about it, "well I don't see any other way around this mess. I'll ask the Fat Controller for another engine."

Whilst he went to phone the Fat Controller, half the trucks were uncoupled and with every ounce of steam he had, Neville pulled the train out of the yard. The noise from the brakes was horrible, but Neville was moving them none the less.

James was the only engine left, and grumbled to the yards. However, his grumbling stopped when he saw the wagons.

"Uh right, uh let's get going trucks, and Hector is it?" he said nervously. "We have a large load to fill up."

James was changed over to the line of trucks and was coupled up. Trying to start though, the wagons held back and refused to move. James moved half a yard before coming to a stop, spinning his wheels the entire time.

"Oh for crying out loud," groaned the yard foreman and smacked his forehead, "these things are worst than ballast trucks."

Some ballast trucks were nearby, but were not insulted, they were cross. "What right do these trucks have to make a mess of things?" they grumbled. "That's our job, not their's."

"Shut up you all!" snapped Hector. "I'm in charge now, and there's nothing you can do to stop me! Now red engine, be off with you!"

James refused to leave, and tried once more to get the wagons moving. He almost succeeded when suddenly, there was a crack and a cry from James. The force used to get the wagons moving had snapped the siderods and damaged James' running board. Now James really had to be taken off.

"Two engines down now?! Oh no, what a mess," groaned the yard foreman. "The Fat Controller isn't going to be pleased when I tell him this."

He went to phone the Fat Controller again. Meanwhile, Splatter and Dodge had arrived to do some shunting and saw the two damaged engines. They could only guess of what happened.

Hector meanwhile smiled to himself.

Dodge uncoupled James, then he and Splatter tried to move the wagons together. Their wheels spun furiously as they tried to move, but nothing worked.

"We won't go with you idiots, and that's final!" snapped Hector. "You don't deserve to pull us, and we don't want to work for a good for nothing railway." Then he added the biggest insult, "and we especially don't like working for a fat boy."

That was the last straw.

"Shut up you miserable wagons!" snapped Splatter. "You can insult us, but you will never, _ever,_ insult our railway or our friends."

"Or our Controller!" added Dodge angerily.

In pure anger, the diesels shoved hard aganist the wagons. They had foolishly left the brakes off, and now they were rolling along freely down the yards. They ran over some points and at the speed they were going, jumped over them and became derailed. The noise was awful.

"Whoops," groaned Splatter.

"Yes, whoops indeed," said Murdoch. "What a mess, and what a racket."

The other trucks giggled, "serves the silly buggers right," they said, "they were too big for their buffers anyhow."

The Fat Controller was not pleased when he heard about what Splatter and Dodge did, however he couldn't stay cross with them for too long, "You two have a good record here on the North Western, so I'll let you off with a warning," he said.

"Thank you Sir, and we're sorry," they said.

Splatter went to get Rocky while Dodge began to tidy up the mess. The Fat Controller spoke firmly to Hector, "my trucks do the jobs they are told to do, and any troublemaking ones are dealt with severe punishments."

Hector rolled his eyes, but gulped when the Fat Controller glared at him, "I heard from my diesels of what you called me, and if I hear you put another wheel out of place, I'll have the entire lot of you sent to the scrapyards."

"Oh no Sir, please don't," cried the wagons.

"We don't want to work scrap trains or be scrapped," added Hector. "We're just standing up for ourselves, it's the way of the Other Railway. You don't know what's like to work with horrid diesels."

"To be fare," said Splatter, "not all diesels are like that, some are nice."

"Yeah like us," agreed Dodge, "and we're not alone, many of the other diesels on Sodor are nice too."

The Fat Controller nodded, "I make sure troublemakers are put in their place or banished from Sodor, just like my family before me. We don't put up with that kind of behaviour from engines or trucks."

Hector looked down to the ground unhappily, "we didn't know."

"Well now you do, and I hope from this point onwards, I never get a call about you wagons misbehaving again."

"We'll try Sir," they all said in unison.

Soon Hector and the wagons were back on the rails, a little scratched up, but none the worse for their misadventure. Splatter and Dodge then took them to the coaling plant where they found Neville with his wagons. They had heard the story from passing engines and weren't sure what to do.

"Be nice to the engines," Hector advised them, "let your brakes off."

They did and Neville shunted the wagons into a siding to wait for the others to be filled up. Splatter and Dodge had them loaded up in no time, and soon, the train was ready.

Before they left, Splatter spoke to Hector, "sorry that Dodge and I had to knock you off the rails."

"Nah no worries mate, I think it was the best thing that could happen to us, we needed some common sense knocked into us. Mind you though," he paused, "it will take us a while to get used to this new kind of behaviour."

"That's alright, take as much time as you need."

A guard's whistle blew and Neville puffed away with the loaded wagons behind him. Splatter and Dodge honked good luck to the entire train and watched them leave. They didn't need to worry, Hector and the wagons behaved quite well on the journey. After that, Hector and the bogie wheeled wagons became the most behaved bunch of trucks the North Western has ever known, though they still do their part to keep the other wagons in their place. Big they are, but horrid they are no more.


End file.
